In the Line of Duty
by SoularFlare
Summary: Future fic, because, well, she's gone again, and I'm sure there's always room for an accident like this...While undercover for Star, Olivia's in an accident. EO, always.
1. Prologue

Detective Olivia Benson, AKA "Persephone" was literally running for her life. She'd gotten separated from her group somehow and was now looking for an exit, _any_ exit, to get her out of the fur-trimmed clothes factory where the Eco-terrorist group EDG had set their all-natural explosives. She didn't know how she'd lost her set, she'd turned, looked back, and suddenly she was alone with no voices to follow, no echoing footsteps, nothing. So she did the best thing she could do: she ran.

The factory was minimalist in design on the outside, but inside it was a labyrinth of stairways, corridors, hanging hallways and locked rooms, and as the seconds ticked past, Olivia's heart began to race harder and harder with every dead end she came upon. She took a left at the end of the otherwise dead ended corridor and flew down the flight of steps she came upon two at a time. At the bottom of the stairway she saw an emergency exit all the way down the right of the hallway. She bolted, lungs aching, legs screaming, towards the door, her mind calculating the possible amount of time remaining on the clock.

From outside the factory, FBI agent Dana Lewis "Star Morrison" watched impatiently, checking her watch every few seconds and looking back to the greenish-gray building a few miles away. Still no sign of Olivia and she was getting anxious.  
Into the serene silence of the field and surrounding clusters of trees where she and her agents hid, the blast came with a shocking force as the building became enveloped in smoke and flames. Ears ringing, she stared in awe and horror at the inferno, and dread filled her until she felt the bile rise deep in the back of her throat.  
Swallowing hard and ignoring the taste, she ordered her teams into the blaze. "Contain the fire and find Benson, _stat_."

The neon numbers on Elliot Stabler's alarm clock glowed red, 3:14 AM, and cast a dim light over his night stand where his charging cell phone lay silent until 3:16, when it rang loudly, arousing Elliot from his slumber.  
He picked it up and answered with a groggy, "Stabler."  
"Elliot?" the voice was female and extremely shaken.  
"Star?" he rubbed his eyes. Was he dreaming?  
"Right now Elliot, its Dana," she sniffled and hiccupped.  
Elliot sat up immediately at her watery voice, yanking the phone from its charger. "What's up? What's wrong?"  
She was silent for a second or tow before answering as calmly as she could. "Elliot, you need to listen to me. There's been an accident and Oli-"  
Elliot didn't hear the rest as the phone slipped from his fingers, off the bed, and onto the floor. He stared into the darkness of his empty room as Dana's voice came faintly from below him, "Elliot? Are you there? Elliot?"

Eh, I have no idea how I came up with this, but I like how it's shaping up, I really do. Same old song and dance now (jazz hands) I don't own Law and Order of any kind, (unfortunately), so don't sue me! Thank you!


	2. Half Informed

Chapter two, quicker than I expected! Hooray for me!

It was 4:09 AM when Elliot rushed into the1-6 in his NYPD sweats and a t-shirt, his untied shoelaces tipping against the floor in his movements. Cragen paced in front of his office, where two middle-aged, well-built FBI agents stood gravelly, flanking a tired but anxious looking John sitting in the chair across from Cragen's desk. Elliot hurried over and opened his mouth to speak, but the captain held up his hand to cut him off, waving him inside. He continued to pace outside the door as Fin bolted around the corner, worry etched across his face. Casey and Huang came close behind and they we all herded into Cragen's office, the door shut soundly behind them.

"What happened?" Elliot demanded as soon as they were all situated inside. "What happened to Olivia?"  
One of the federal agents, Agent Jimson according to his badge, coughed under Elliot's intense glare and smoothed his tie before speaking. "Detective Benson, under the codename "Persephone Free James" was caught in the blast of the Eco-terrorist group EDG's "nature-friendly" explosives as they carried out their plan to demolish a clothing factory that used real animal fur instead of the synthetic faux fur most companies use." Shock reverberated through the room. Casey covered her mouth and her eyes filled with tears while George stuffed his hands in his pockets and retreated to the blind-covered windows, resting his forehead against the wooden paneling; Munch buried his face in his hands and Cragen plopped in his chair; Fin clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, but Elliot did nothing. He was stunned to the very core. His lips moved but no sound came until, finally, "How?"  
The second government worker, Agent Bailey, stepped forward. "We don't have the information as of now, that rests with Agent Lewis. She'll be arriving via air with Detective Benson at 0700 hours. They'll be taking her to St. Vincent's where she'll be stabilized and be submitted to any procedures or treatments they deem necessary."

The phone broke through the stunned silence and Cragen picked up and answered with a snappish, "Hello?" He listened for a few minutes, nodding and muttering affirmations before bidding a short goodbye and dropping the phone in its cradle. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back as he exhaled. "That was Star," he said solemnly. "They've just taken off. She said she'll call again when they've landed."  
"Where are they that it's going to take them that long to get her back here?" Fin asked, pacing in short, angry steps behind John's chair.  
Don sighed. "I can't say."  
"The hell you can't!" Elliot bit out vehemently. "What's Olivia doing that's got her around explosives and Eco-terrorists?"  
The first federal officer stood firmly in front of Elliot, a frown creasing his already lined face. "That's really none of your business Detective," he replied, his tone much too condescending for the situation. The others must have thought so too, because Cragen pushed himself to his feet, Casey and George stepped forward, and John and Fin flanked their friend, who was staring down the FBI agent with an icy intensity, the vein in his jaw pulsing rapidly in his anger.  
"You bet your confidential ass it's my business, _Special_ Agent Jimson. That's _my_ partner, _my_ friend. I haven't seen her for months, now you tell me where she's coming from and why she was there." Elliot was shuddering with suppressed rage, and his blue eyes burned with a fire that hadn't been seen very often since Olivia had gone without a word.  
"Elliot," Cragen said wearily. "Back off."  
Breathing heavily, Elliot stepped back and was gathered into the circle of friends behind him. They continued to glare at the out-of-line agent, who smirked but said no more, merely turning to Cragen and handing him a standard blue folder.  
"In here are the badges you'll need to get in to see Detective Benson," he began, nodding to his partner and heading towards the door. "As you know, Agent Lewis will be in touch." And with that they were gone, leaving the door open wide behind them.

Silence reigned as they struggled to deal with the load of bad news dumped on them when at the worst possible moment, Olivia's replacement Dani Beck sauntered in, a cheery smile on her face. "Hey all," she greeted them. "What's going on in here?" Their eyes cut to her, speaking volumes of things she couldn't understand. "Um…bad time?"


	3. Through the Haze

Chapter three…just a bit longer than the last…it always happens…expect to wait longer for updates…

No one spoke, merely stared, and it made her uneasy. She had tried valiantly, but in the few months she's been with Manhattan SVU, she just couldn't become "one of them." They were friendly, sure, and they all worked well together, but she always felt outside looking in, especially in moments like these, or when she asked about her predecessor, Detective Benson. That tension, those looks, like they were privy to something important and didn't want to share with the like of her, the outsider.  
"Um…so, who were the suits, the younger one was kind of cute," she attempted to break the weird silence with a light joke, something she just hadn't perfected around this crowd.  
Tactfully, George took Dani by the elbow gently and led her out giving her some vague explanation. He returned a few minutes later alone.  
"I asked her to take some files upstairs for me," he said, closing the door behind him.  
"So what do we do?" Fin asked Cragen, who was studying the still-seething Elliot.  
He sighed. "There's nothing we can do. It's a government thing now. All we can do now is help her cope."  
Munch glanced at the clock ticking on the captain's wall and looked to his friends. "St. Vincent's is forty-five minutes away, we should get going."  
Cragen nodded, his shoulders heavy with the invisible weight of bad news. Grabbing his coat from the back of his chair, he nodded towards the door. "Let's go," he said, following them out the door.

They had taken advantage of a beautiful day and spent some much-needed time as a group _outside_ of work. The park was aglow with red, cooled embers upon the trees, scattered on the ground, surrounding their picturesque little scene. Elliot was lying on his back in the grass, his fingers toying with the edge of the sweater tied around Olivia's waist. She sat close to him, stretching and resting her legs on his. Fin sat on the worn picnic table, resting his feet on the bench, tossing the play-worn football in his hands while Munch sat with his back against the table edge beside him, trying to steal the ball from his partner. Cragen and Casey sat across from them and George was sitting against a tree next to the table, and they all laughed at Munch's attempts.  
"Listen man," Fin grinned. "Didn't you learn earlier? You can't steal a ball from a brother." He pulled the pigskin just out of John's reaching hands.  
"Don't be so sure," Olivia retorted, snatching the ball away from him. Another round of laughter followed the surprised look on Fin's face and Casey saluted her friend and pushed Fin's shoulder, nearly knocking him off the table.  
"You women are vicious," he complained, shifting to a more stable position next to his partner. The sleeves of his leather jacket crinkled as he folded his arms and glared petulantly.  
"Or you're just a big baby," Elliot eyed him from his spot on the ground. "I mean, if you can't handle Olivia then we have a problem."  
He chuckled until Olivia shoved the football in his chest, and he choked on his laughter, turning over on his side to protect himself as she smacked him.  
"I don't think he'll ever learn," Cragen said dryly.  
"What would we do if he did?" George asked the captain, grinning. "The entertainment value would definitely drop."  
"Well we could always make fun of you," John raised his eyebrows at the doctor.  
"Why do that when we always have you?" Casey quipped, and John squawked indignantly.  
Suddenly there was a tiny beeping sound, and they all checked their pockets before Olivia pulled her cell from inside her jacket.  
"It's me," she said, checking the screen. Oddly enough it was blank, but the sounds continued. She pressed the clear key, but it did nothing, and the phone kept beeping.  
"What is it Liv?" Elliot asked. "Liv?"  
She frowned, things were getting hazy. He was right beside her, but his voice sounded so far away.  
"Liv?"

Then the jostling of a curtain and the sound of voices brought her from the fog. She heard pacing, and her eyes slowly opened. Her head was pounding and it hurt to try to move her arms and legs. She groaned, and the short footsteps stopped. The curtain jingled again and through fuzzy eyes she saw a figure standing tall above her.  
"Hey guys," Elliot called, looking behind him. "I think she's waking!"

Side note: OK, I saw the previews and she's coming back, and NOT in the fashion of this story, but I'm going to continue it anyway, because I'm actually enjoying this one...


End file.
